US President Donald Trump, who as a Republican candidate had accused China of manipulating its currency, has claimed that the Asian superpower stopped doing so as soon as he assumed office.

"I did say I would call China, if they were, a currency manipulator, early in my tenure. And then I get there. Number one, as soon as I got elected, they stopped. They're not -- it's not going down anymore, their currency," Trump said in an interview.

Trump insisted that the Chinese currency manipulation did stop after he became the US President in January.

"They were doing it before. I mean, there was no question. I mean, they were absolute currency manipulators before," he told CBS's 'Face The Nation' on Sunday.

China has been accused of suppressing the yuan to make its exports more competitive with American goods.

Before the US election, Trump had likened this to "raping" the US, and promised to label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month, Trump had said China had not been "currency manipulators" for some time and had been trying to prevent further weakening.

Trump made the comments weeks after hosting China's President Xi Jinping in Florida.

Responding to questions, Trump said that resolving the North Korean issue has taken precedence over all other issues with China, including trade and human rights

"I think that, frankly, North Korea is maybe more important than trade. Trade is very important. But massive warfare with millions, potentially millions of people being killed? That, as we would say, trumps trade," he said.

"If I can use trade as a method to get China, because I happen to think that China does have reasonably good powers over North Korea

Now, maybe not, you know, ultimate, but pretty good powers. Now, if China can help us with North Korea and can solve that problem that's worth making not as good a trade deal for the United States,? the US president said.